Shoreline Management Plan

The Carpenter-Remmel Project (FERC No. 271) (Project) is an existing, federally licensed hydroelectric project owned and operated by Entergy Arkansas, LLC (Entergy) located in west central Arkansas. The Project generates clean renewable energy for use by Entergy's customers. The project also provides two reservoirs, Lake Hamilton and Lake Catherine, that are used and enjoyed by residents and visitors of Hot Springs and the Diamond Lakes Region.

Upon receiving its new operating license from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), Entergy was required to prepare a Shoreline Management Plan (SMP) for the Project. An SMP is a comprehensive plan to manage the multiple resources and uses of the Project’s shorelines in a manner that is consistent with license requirements and Project purposes, and to address the needs of the public. Entergy was also required to prepare a Recreation Plan to explain how it planned to monitor public recreation use at the Project and implement appropriate enhancements during the term of the new license.

The resulting Recreation Plan, contained in Section 6.0, discusses plans to implement the enhancements proposed during the relicensing effort, to notify FERC of those changes being implemented, and to monitor use concurrent with the Form 80 process. The SMP identifies the resources and acceptable uses that Entergy will consider in analyzing the impact of proposed shoreline facilities and activities within the Project boundary prior to granting permits for those uses. Facilities and activities that occurred or were begun prior to this SMP are considered “grandfathered” and will not face immediate revision or modifications to meet the new SMP standards, provided they are consistent with the requirements of Entergy’s FERC license.

While the SMP introduces some new strategies regarding the management and permitting of shoreline activities and facilities within the Project boundary, it is based on management practices established by Entergy over the years. Entergy maintains its commitment to balancing all uses within the Project boundary with recognition that adjacent property owners, local residents, and other users, and the environmental resources of the area, are all-important factors in any decisions affecting use and access of the Project lands and waters. To do so, they have utilized a collaborative process that entailed input from all of these uses in creating this document. A glossary of terms used in this document is contained in Appendix C.

This document represents conditions within the Project boundary as they existed in January 2003. As discussed in Section 11.0, updates to the drawings contained herein will occur periodically as needed. Revisions to the SMP itself will occur only in the event that it appears major changes associated with recreational use, shoreline land uses within the Project boundary, or other environmental resources present cumulative impacts that may limit the SMP's effectiveness.

The allowable use matrix (Figure 8.2) will assist lakefront property owners to quickly assess what, if any, special standards apply to their particular type of proposed facility or activity. To use the matrix, first identify the activity most similar to the one being proposed in the far left column, next identify the Shoreline Management Classification (SMC) assigned to the project location, moving across the activity row and down from the SMC column, the intersecting box identifies whether the use is allowed, reviewed on a case by case basis, or not allowed.